Behind the Joker's Grin
by Yaomi's Ink
Summary: How was Sora to know that a single choice he had made years ago would affect entire worlds? What do you do when you find out that you are the enemy in your fairytale? RS, CL, ZD.


Disclaimer: You know which characters are not mine.

Behind the Joker's Grin

Part One: A Series of Faces

Chapter 1

_Kairi felt a chill travel up her spine and shook a little with it. She was sitting on the dock, the waters of Destiny Islands drifting out as far as she could see. It was ironic, she thought, that she had been throughout the universe, meeting new people and traversing over different worlds, but had never managed to visit any on other island on her own world beyond the one she lived on. Back then, when life was still simple and the stars were just stars, orbs of light to decorate the canvas of a night sky, she had dreamed with two of her friends to run away to one of the other islands. See what else there was beyond what they knew. But hindsight was twenty-twenty, and how were they to know, young as they were, to be careful what they wished for? Her legs swung in a lazy rhythm with her thoughts. She could feel the night breeze twine through her hair, pushing it away from her shoulders and then drawing it forward in an intimate dance. If she concentrated hard enough, she could feel the pulse of the seal in the cave that kept their world safe._

_She sighed and used the palms of her hands to hold her weight as she tilted her head back to stare up at the stars. So many worlds in the universe, and on one of them was Sora. Sora who always had a grin for her and a hope that spanned over worlds and through the inky blackness that dwelled within each of them. He was a lantern in the dark, a flame that would never go out. Even in her darkest hours, when her heart had been taken from her and there was nothing left in her to respond, she had felt his steady warmth embracing her. As fragile as hope could be, he had always been the strongest of them all, a presence that spanned beyond wherever the universe ended. She herself knew how fragile hope could be. She dreamed that one day they would all be together again, but for the past three years that hope had dwindled to a distant spark that she fed each night at this time so that it would not go out._

_Arms looped around her shoulders as someone crouched behind her and pulled her into a warm chest. "Hey," Tidus breathed in her ear. She smiled softly in the dark, allowing him to take her weight as she raised a hand to lightly brush over his arm. A lot could change in three years. She had come home not knowing what she wanted beyond having her friends safe and back home. Tidus had been there and was so Destiny Islands that she could pretend when he was with her that all was okay and she was a normal girl again. For a brief time she could pretend to forget all she had learned and seen. He signified the life that she had once had and wanted again. At least that was why she started dating him. Now she wasn't sure except that he became what she wanted. And if that was just pretend too, well then she'd cross that bridge when it came._

_"Hey," she said, her voice soft as the breeze._

_Tidus' arms drew back as he let go of her, his hands sliding up her arms as he prepared to stand up. "Ready to go?" She turned around and reached out. He grabbed her hands and pulled her towards him and up so that she was standing on her own two feet again. He let go of her completely in what had become their nightly ritual and she turned back to the stars for one last look, offering one last prayer for the night with all that remained of her hope that Sora was somewhere safe and still the pure-hearted boy she remembered from her past. Tidus' arm wrapped around her waist as she turned to look at him and then they were walking off the pier and towards the shadows of the neighborhood rising beyond the beach as she leaned on him._

_In the warm summer breeze she felt another chill run through her and looked over her shoulder to the raised land that was connected to the mainland by a wooded bridge that had once been her, Sora, and Riku's own personal island. There. She could see the breeze twisting strands of white from the branch where the three of them used to sit and wonder what was just beyond the ocean. She could make out his figure looking towards the waves. He had always had the ability to mimic a statue in his stillness. It was such a contrast to Sora's inability to sit still for even a minute that Kairi had thought them weird when Sora had first introduced her to Riku. He had stood there before her as Sora bounced around them both, with his arms crossed studying her with a darkness in his eyes even back then. Tidus looked over when she hesitated and she could feel him tense and pull her closer, urging them past the beach and onto the street. She allowed herself to be led away. They were headed towards Tidus' home where his mother insisted she come over for dinner once a week. On Thursdays they would be at her father's home where he would wheedle and interrogate Tidus to take care of his baby girl._

_She wondered when it had become only her father's home and not hers. Could they ever go back to what they had been once upon a time or had knowledge come and ripped that chance apart? Sometimes she thinks that it might have been easier, that she could have once lived a simple and happy life if she had remained ignorant. But then again she would remind herself that as a princess of heart even now she had to be careful. There was always something out there searching, wanting, waiting for the perfect chance to resurrect old causes and battles and darkness. But she wanted Sora and Riku back home, because although Riku was here on the island, his heart was not. His eyes scared her. She had a home with her father and a boyfriend who cared about her and kept her days bright and a part time job so that she could learn to be self-sufficient in a normal setting without having to fear for her life or be dragged from world to world. In a normal setting people didn't normally pool their resources together so that everyone could focus on specific tasks for their specific skill sets like she was used to doing. Here she had to learn how to do everything herself and try to be normal again although it was always there in the back of her mind that if everything was okay, that if the worlds were not in trouble, then Sora would already have come back. But he hadn't. And Riku kept falling further and further away, and she wasn't sure what to do anymore. Though she appeared to be taking the necessary steps to move her life forward, she felt like she was trapped in stasis, unable to move forward and impossible to go back._

_Kairi knew when Riku showed up on Destiny Islands alone that something had gone wrong. She had come home to tears and cheers and hysterical questions as everyone surrounded her and demanded to known where she had been and where the other two were. Then a few days later Riku had come back. Without Sora. His mother and Kairi were the only ones who tried to talk to him at first, the ice in his eyes keeping everyone else far at bay. But his was a coldness that burned and Kairi had let him have his space after a few weeks. They hadn't talked since. The last thing he had said to her was that Sora was alive and doing well for himself. But his own movements were harsh thrusts of his hands as he pushed his hair away from his face and his words were corrupted by the bitterness in his voice. Kairi had been upset and heartbroken, but she had not been as lost as Riku as he sat at the kitchen table of his house day after day, not eating or moving or anything._

_And then Riku's mother had come to talk with her. It felt like everyone had come to talk to her in those first few weeks. Her father managed to block most of them, but some people she had to speak to. Such as Riku's mother who cried on her shoulder while she had to be the strong one. Her frantic whispers that she didn't know what to do anymore still reverberated through her ears at times. Kairi had no advice to offer her, nor words of comfort or wisdom. Riku's mother had not come again. Kairi wasn't sure what hurt worse: to witness the effect that Riku's darkness had on his own mother or to watch Sora's mother barrel forward as though nothing was wrong. She had come to see Kairi too. After Kairi had given her the reassurance that it was Sora so of course he was okay and surely he would be back soon, Sora's mom had grinned happily, so reminiscent of her son that Kairi had physically hurt seeing it. From then on through the past few years Sora's mom bustled through life, keeping Sora's room clean and stocking the house with enough food to feed a small world and leaving the porch light on so that Sora could find his way in the dark should he arrive some time in the night. Riku and Sora's mothers never talked anymore to each other, although once upon a time they had been best friends. Sora's mom didn't want to have to face the possibility of the truth just as Riku's mother didn't want to witness the destruction of faith and hope for a second time._

_They were at Tidus' house now and he was opening the door to lead her inside. The smell of a home-cooked meal hit her and she smiled in greeting as Tidus' mother came to wrap her in a hug. She knew what his mother was hoping for, but Kairi would not be able to move another step in the path that was her life until she saw with her own eyes that Sora and Riku were okay and that they too were moving forward. She was sure that Tidus knew because he never pushed the issue, offering in his own sweet way the comfort that she needed until she was ready to move on. They were waiting. The entire island was waiting and there was nothing anyone could do until Sora came home. So for now she sat down at the table beside Tidus and complimented the meal with a smile on her face that did not give away the unease in her heart. It was the same look on the faces of those who sat across from her and those in the houses down the street and everywhere else on this island. Kairi secretly thought that maybe Riku just might be the most honest of them all with his dark eyes and cynical sneer that hid nothing. For the rest of them, maybe if they pretended long enough that nothing was wrong then maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay._

* * *

The sunlight was streaming through the clouds as they gathered into what would become a storm, moving and dancing in the rhythm of the world as Cloud stepped out of the store he had been haggling in for over an hour now. He looked up at the sky as the strands of light moved away from him and the dappled pattern over the streets thinned out. Maybe another hour before it rained? The merchants in Traverse Town were nice, but getting anywhere with them felt like he was slamming his head into a brick wall over and over again, expecting it to move out of the way with a neatly wrapped apology. He looked down the main street he was on, and then turned to look the other way. Nothing. His companion was nowhere to be seen, so Cloud headed towards the restaurant at the corner.

As he drew near, the waitress looked up at him from the table she was sitting at, one leg curled under her and the other swinging in a lazy arch in a movement attesting to her boredom. Immediately she scrambled up with a smile on her face, fingers reaching for the menus she had thrown on the table in front of her, bypassing the nametag her boss had somehow gotten into his head that all of his people would start wearing that announced proudly to the world that yes, indeed, her name was Elaine. Cloud shook his head and held up a hand. She pouted as she plopped back down, chin fitting neatly in her hand as her leg took up its activities again. "You never get anything," she grumbled.

He sat at the next table over from her. "Water?" he asked.

"Big spender, aren't you?" she grumbled at him and then rose to pour a glass. She set it down in front of him and then took the chair next to his. Her arms were crossed on the table in front of her in a make-shift pillow for her head.

Cloud's fingers came out to move the glass so that he had an uninhibited view of the street just past the roof. It was an open café. No glass or doors except back to the kitchen. The roof came over the tables, offering a shade that was valuable in the summer days and a shelter on the rainy ones. If this storm became too bad then the owner would come out to release the tarps that folded up into the edge of the roof to protect the tables and people underneath it. "Aren't you supposed to be working?" he asked her.

"When there isn't anyone here, I only get paid enough to sit here and look pretty." She lifted her head for a brief moment to scan the room and waved her hand in front of her. "Does it look like there is anyone else here? The boss said another person is going to have to be let go," she told him glumly as her feet kicked back into a different rhythm.

Cloud's face was impassive, but he looked over at her. "Why isn't there anyone here?"

"We had to raise our prices again, not that you would know," she mumbled. "If someone comes, let me know, would you?" She dropped her head back on her arms and buried her face out of sight. Cloud made a murmur of assent and turned back to the street to keep a lookout. Their silence was a comfortable one, which had only been achieved a few months prior after she realized that he was never going to buy anything and he realized that she was never going to leave him in peace. The other one was nice, she thought as she closed her eyes, feeling the weight of a quiet day and a breeze that played upon her skin and in her hair come upon reminiscent of exhaustion. The other one always bought something.

Cloud slipped his hand into the pocket of his jacket and found the hand held communicator. He pulled it out and turned it over in his hands, contemplating for a moment contacting Leon to update him on their status. He looked back out at the sky above the building and thought better of it, dropping it back in his pocket for a later time when he could update Leon fully about the situation. He took a sip of his water, the breeze ruffling through what Aerith called the spikes on his head as it blew through the café, bringing with it the refreshing scent of rain.

He saw a figure move out from one of the alleyways with the same signature spikes that looked so much like his own the waitress had thought they were brothers when they had first arrived on world. Sora had thought it was amusing and had gotten to her first, and it was now and forever set in her mind that they were cousins or half brothers or whatever it was that Sora had told her. Sora was struggling with a big cardboard box and Cloud felt himself frown a little, curiosity getting the better of him, which always proved to be a dangerous thing where Sora was concerned. He watched as Sora nearly dropped the box and set it hastily on the ground. He leaned over it and poked his fingers at the top which Cloud noticed had been cut away. Sora gave a grin as he lifted his hand away and the side of Cloud's brow twitched when he noticed a little paw come out of the top to follow the fingers waving at it.

Cloud pushed back his chair and stood as Sora picked the box up, ensuring a steady grip as he made his way over to them. "No," Cloud said sternly, crossing his arms before him. Sora pouted at him. The waitress looked up and grinned at the newcomer, waving as she sat up in her chair.

"Why not?" he asked Cloud. "They're so little. And look," he nodded towards the box and then shared a conspiratorially grin with Elaine. "That one looks like you."

Cloud looked down into the box as Sora set it on the table. "That looks nothing like me," he said. The waitress snorted in laughter as she leaned over to get a better look at the kittens climbing over each other in excitement.

"Sure it does," Sora said, reaching down into the box for the kitten he had indicated. Where the other ones immediately launched for his hand as though it was a mouse and thus should be cuddled, this kitten was crouched in the corner of the box, making no move or response as it watched Sora. "He's all anti-social and stuff." Sora picked up the kitten and held it in both hands as he lifted it above his head to nuzzle it. It meowed at him and tried to bat at his nose. He laughed and dropped it back in with its overly energetic siblings. "They're so little. Yes you are, little Tsurugi."

Cloud twitched again. "Don't name it after my sword. We're leaving at noon," Cloud reminded him. "Tifa's waiting for us."

Sora sighed and rolled his eyes. "I know." He turned to Elaine who grinned at him.

"I'll make sure they stay warm," she told him, and he smiled in relief at her. "And fed." The grin he gave her was almost blinding. While she thought he was the most adorable thing, the owner of the café dreaded the times that Sora would run through for a visit. Ever since he started coming regularly, the owner had found all sorts of things in his store, from cats and dogs to birds and one time a snake that Sora had insisted had been about to be stepped on. But the waitresses and waiters would go on strike before they let their boss take any action, say any word, against Sora. The first time he had come here, Elaine had been new and had made a mess of things, crying around broken dishes as a customer, some off-worlder, had yelled at her while others looked on. Sora had interjected himself neatly into the situation, helping her up and rallying the rest of the customers with a glare to her defense, and even helped out at the café until the next shift had come in. She pulled the box closer to her and peered into it, smiling and poking a kitten in the side so that it fell over with a meow.

"Thanks, Elaine," Sora said warmly. She stuck her tongue out at Cloud as he looked over at her. Had they been on Radiant Garden, Cloud would probably have conceded to Sora's initial pout and would have been roped into carrying the box home. Yuffie would have a field day terrifying them out of their wits end and Aerith would come be mother to them all until they adored her completely and refused to leave the house. Even Leon was getting used to having flying fluffy balls of warmth bolting around the rooms and shop, rocketing into his ankles from the stairwell and stalking him through the halls. He didn't even get irritated anymore. Sora bid goodbye to Elaine as Cloud turned back towards the street. He fell into step next to Cloud as they headed back to the house where Tifa was waiting impatiently for them.

Cloud could see Sora's fingers twitch as soon as they turned the corner out of sight of the café, making a motion to reach upward for a brief second before his hand dropped back to his side. He tilted his head a little to study Sora as they continued walking. "How is your head?" he finally asked. Sora winced.

"It still hurts," he responded.

Cloud hummed in thought. "Aerith will take a look at you when we get back. Are you dehydrated?"

Sora's spiked waved as he shook his head. "I just need to sleep."

Cloud heard the beep of the communicator and pulled it out of his pocket to look at the screen. Tifa. He slipped it back in and Sora grinned over at him. Tifa was famous for being the only one to take Cloud to task if she was annoyed with him, although Sora was pretty sure that Aerith would be the scariest one of them all if she was overly upset. All she had to do was give that look and the person would be a blubbering mess before her, seeking her arms for comfort for all the wrongs, perceived and real, that they had done in their entire lives. Sora knew this. He had seen it happen before with a man who had been angry over the price which he could well afford of fixing a leak in his basement. Cloud never messed with Aerith, but he was infamous for inciting Tifa's wrath by ignoring her. "You can take a nap when we get back to the house. We have another hour before we need to be on the ship."

Sora looked back up the street, away from Cloud's eyes. "I probably won't be able to until we're off this world," he mumbled.

Cloud stopped and grabbed Sora by the arm to pull him to a stop also. "Why do you say that?" Sora had been acting off since they had landed, and it had been bothering Cloud at the back of his mind for the past week.

Sora did a half shrug as he turned to face Cloud. If he hadn't, had chosen instead to avoid Cloud's hand and keep moving forward, then he wouldn't have seen the figure dart back into the shadows of the alley off to their left, a form recognizable from the corner of his eye with its bright eyes peering and then disappearing around the corner. "Cloud," he said, voice rising as he bid his keyblade to come to his hand. Cloud's sword was in his hands in an instant as he whirled around to face the threat in the direction Sora was facing. He paused as his eyes darted around the area. There was- "Sora, there's nothing here."

Sora frowned and refused to lower his arm, keyblade firmly between himself and the shadows of the alleyway. "I thought I saw…" he trailed off, leaving it unsaid what they both knew he might have imagined.

"Thought you saw what?" Cloud asked, eyes going to scan the area again.

"Nothing," Sora murmured. He dropped his arm and the keyblade faded into sparks of light that died out, leaving nothing but a keychain in his hand. Oh, but his head was aching and Cloud was looking at him like he might actually be getting worried now. Sora ducked his head and continued on, turning his back to the alley. But as Cloud fell into step with him, he couldn't resist the temptation to look at where they had just been standing and swore he could feel eyes following them all the way down the street.

"We're going to stay on another day," Tifa said into the communicator. She was sitting at the only table in the house she, Cloud, and Sora had rented for the days it would take for the supplies to be bundled for travel. Every month they made a trip to Traverse Town to purchase anything that Radiant Garden needed. The world had initially been self-sufficient after many of the flower gardens had been converted into vegetable gardens and animal pens. But then the world had become a haven for refugees and wayward weary travelers who needed the chance to rest for a time before heading back out into the stars. In order to keep a comfortable balance of provisions, Radiant Garden sent out a team to stock up on supplies.

* * *

Tifa was a usual on the journey. At first it had been her and Cid. Cid had lived on Traverse Town before joining their rag-tag team of do-gooders, and the merchants knew him well enough to be able to look past his rough exterior. They trusted him as one of their own. When Cloud was not off chasing another unknown enemy or brooding in an undisclosed location, he would join them. Even with Cid, they had problems at the beginning getting the merchants of Traverse Town to comply with their requests due to their limited budget and lack of reliant funds. But then Sora had joined them. As always when she thought of Sora, her mind would travel back to the image forever imprinted in her mind of the first time she had seen Sora again after two years of silence. Cloud had been gone for a long time as he usually was, but then he showed up on their doorstep, Sora bundled in his arms, pale white and all but dead. Cloud refused to say where he had found Sora, and only him and Leon knew the place where Sora was found. How much they knew of the why Sora was found where he was Tifa wasn't sure about. Sora never talked about it. But there were deep scars on the palms of his hands now in the place where Aerith had spent weeks healing wounds that had sliced through to the bone. Sora hadn't been responsive to anyone for months until Cloud had forced him onto the ship and taken him to Traverse Town with them.

After that Tifa was in an on-going study of the man she remembered as a boy. He had left Traverse Town from that first trip completely himself again: cheerful and childlike, eager to help, and bright as the stars. But there were times, mere seconds that Tifa would have missed had she not been watching him closely, times that Tifa would have thought were only the imaginings of her mind had she not known that Cloud, Aerith, and Leon had already noticed them too, where his lips would tilt just out of their smile and his eyes would go distant and withdrawn before he would shake it off and immerse himself in whatever needed to be done with an energy that would tire out a puppy. The merchants here liked Cid, but they absolutely adored Sora, loving him like he was the little brother to them all. Leon quickly became very fond of sending Sora out with them. Cloud tended to make the locals nervous with his long silences and direct stares, but when Sora walked by they would, as Leon pointed out, throw discounts at the group just so that Sora would come visit them, which for the most part Tifa found was true. She at least could attest to it, though Sora would get embarrassed and try to deny it.

Usually everything ran without a hitch. The people on Traverse town were almost overly helpful and friendly. The other travelers were always more than happy to help with the loading, which really happened in any world as though it was some unsaid rule among them to help their comrades in space at any chance they got. And after Sora joined their cause, the locals would go every direction out of their way to find whatever the team needed at the cheapest price. Usually the team was in and out in less than a week. However, this time there was a problem. And Leon's frown indicated that he didn't like the idea of the team staying on even another day. "You were scheduled to leave yesterday. What's going on?" he asked her, a slight tick in his expression in regards to Yuffie's antics in the background and Cid's yelling. He crossed his arms and leaned back.

"It's probably nothing," Tifa said, giving a graceful shrug of her shoulders. "But Sora mentioned that he saw a shadow, maybe a leftover from when the heartless took over the town. They are investigating it now."

Leon's frown deepened even further. "Keep me informed," he said.

"Will do," Tifa replied. The connection was abruptly cut and Tifa slumped back in her chair with a sigh, running a hand through her hair. A day, as it had easily been proven, could turn into two days. But after that, she told herself firmly, she would personally ensure that both Cloud and Sora and the supplies would be on the ship. While Radiant Garden had enough supplies to last for a few more weeks, there was no telling what could happen in that time or how many more people would come to visit their world.

She looked around their little house. She was sitting in the front room that consisted of a table and chairs and a couch in the corner. She could see the kitchen over a wide counter and doorway. There were two rooms off to the side. The far one led into a bathroom while the one closest to her led into the house's only bedroom. At night Tifa would take the bed while Cloud slept on a mat on the floor. Sora would take the couch in the front room. While not having had to do it for along time, Tifa did not mind the sparse living conditions and sharing rooms. Anyone else would have already been complaining, but she remembered years ago sleeping on the floor of a room beneath her bar with five other people. But when she didn't have to live like this, she would rather not. And the boys would have to come with her if she left with the ship because they had a job to perform and a time limit to complete it in. The first time they had all made the trip together, Cloud had run off to brood (thankfully remaining on world) and Sora was busy helping the locals with whatever minor problems they were having (finding a child's kitten which had been hiding under the couch was not a cause for delaying a shipment apparently). Well long story short, Tifa had proven that she didn't mind leaving their asses to rot for awhile. They had ended up traveling with a man and his wife on a journey that lasted nearly four months before they found themselves on Radiant Garden again. Leon had been furious. Sora had had the time of his life. That was the first time he had brought home a kitten.

She pushed herself up from the table with a sigh and went into the kitchen. A brief look around told her what she already knew; there was nothing in the fridge or the pantry. They had only brought enough to last them through last night since they were supposed to be en route by now back to Radiant Garden. She went back to the bedroom, grabbed the munny from Cloud's bag which was propped in the corner, and then left to go to the market. The sky was dark now, but the clouds withheld their rain for the moment.

She never made it to the market. The day was dreary, clouds releasing a light mist that put a pall over the town. She noticed that the owner of the café Sora liked to drag her to was releasing the tarps while the waitress Elaine sat in a chair. She was talking to a little boy while she folded silverware into napkins. The boy was leaning over a box on the ground next to the table, playing with the kittens inside who were jumping around gleefully. She passed the owner and ducked under the half undone tarp. Elaine looked up and gave her a grin. "How are things, Elaine?" she asked her.

Elaine shrugged, slipping the edge of the napkin into the top, finishing off the set she was working on. "It's been slow." She nodded towards the box and Tifa gave a wry grin, hazarding a guess that was more than likely correct at where the box had come from. "Let Sora know we found an owner for all the kittens," she said, smirking over at her boss who turned to glare at her as he slipped the last tarp down.

"We did not," her boss said harshly. "And tell that boy of yours that we are not a shelter for strays."

"Wouldn't help," Elaine quipped, tapping the box with her foot. "I saw your boys running around here. I thought you were leaving yesterday?" She grinned at Tifa's harassed expression. "Boys," she clucked and left it at that. She brushed her work away with an arm and turned to leaned towards the boy. "Denzel, this is one of the people I told you about." The little boy sitting cross-legged next to Elaine looked over at her and then turned back to the box.

"He's shy," Elaine explained, sitting back up to meet Tifa's eyes. "But I need you to take him with you when you leave."

Tifa stared, caught completely by surprise. "You need me to do what?"

"His daddy ain't a nice man, if you catch my drift." Elaine set down the set she was working on and turned her full attention to Tifa. "He needs off this world."

Tifa looked over at the boy, weary of talking about him in front of him like this. "In other words, you want me to kidnap a little boy."

Elaine snorted. "His daddy won't even notice."

Tifa frowned and paused. She moved towards him and crouched down next to him. "Denzel, is that your name?" she asked him softly. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and nodded, resolutely staring into the box. His fingers flicked at one of the kittens and it gave him a look before turning back to the preservation of its claws.

"Good choice," Elaine said, looking over into the box. "That's the only one with a name so far."

"What's its name?" Tifa asked, sidling up next to Denzel. She could feel him tense as she got closer, but he didn't move away, stubbornly acting as if she wasn't there.

Elaine's lips twitched. "Tsurugi."

Tifa's hair flipped over her shoulder as she turned to look up at Elaine. When their eyes met she could feel her lips twitch as the pieces came together. She gave into a laugh as she rose back up, still bending over to be near Denzel's eye level. She thought about it for a moment, but then she was moving her head in acquiescence to Elaine's silent query.

"I have a place, a world," she started softly, looking at the boy who turned to meet her eyes. "It's a place where people come from all over. We help out. That's what we're doing now. Getting food for the world. Would you like to come with me?" she asked him. He stared at her in silence and she smiled encouragingly. "It's not much of a place, but it's home. It was very beautiful before the war, but it's peaceful now and we are building it back to what it once was. You should come with us. You'll have your own bedroom, food, and supplies. I will be there, and whenever I go off world, you can come with me." When he didn't say anything further, she sighed and got up.

"Can I bring Tsurugi," Denzel asked in a rush, as though he was missing his chance.

Tifa gave him a full smile this time. "Tsurugi can come with us."

Denzel dragged his feet, but he got up and held the little cat to his chest. He turned to Tifa expectantly. Elaine scrambled up and knelt before Denzel. "These are really good people," she said. "You'll love Sora, and Cloud is a softy underneath that rough exterior. You'll like them." She reached out her arms and Denzel hesitantly allowed her to pull him into a hug and kiss his cheek. "I'll miss our afternoons." She let go of him and straightened up. With both hands on her hips, she gave him a level stare. "You make sure to visit me if you're ever in town." He looked like he was about to say something, but he just nodded and let Tifa lead him out into the open air.

They made it back to the rental house in good time considering Denzel's pace. But he was quiet and cooperative as he sat on the floor of the main room next to the table, batting his fingers at the cat as Tifa took a moment to post a call to Yuffie. She specifically asked for Yuffie, because while Leon would accept the boy without a problem, his terse responses and quiet authority might give Denzel the wrong idea and Tifa didn't want the boy to think she was hiding anything by going into the bedroom or outside to make the call.

"Hey, Tif," Yuffie said, coming into view as she plopped down into the chair in front of the screen. The miniature communicator made her look tiny to Tifa's eyes. "Anything new?" she asked.

"There's a boy, Denzel, who will be coming with us. Can you make sure the other bedroom is prepared for him? Move my things into your room if you have to," Tifa said.

Yuffie's eyes raised and she brought one leg up into the chair, wrapping her hands around her shin. "Denzel? I can do that." She leaned back in the chair, letting it bend backwards a little. "When are you coming back? Leon's been in a snit the entire day."

"I bet he has."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he-" She cut out as the screen fizzled for a moment and then came back online. When Tifa could make her out again, Yuffie was frowning, her hand just out of sight under the screen where Tifa knew the controls were. "What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know," Tifa said as she studied the device in her hands. Denzel looked over at her, but she shook her head at him and smiled to reassure him. "It might from be my end. I'll call you when we head out."

"Okay," Yuffie said and logged off.

When Cloud and Sora came in, Tifa was on the floor with Denzel and Tsurugi. Sora spotted them first and he gave them a wide grin.

"Good to go?" Tifa asked as she got up, Denzel scrambling after her.

"Yep," Sora said.

Cloud came in behind him and his eyes honed in on the boy. They stared each other down. "Who is this?" he asked softly.

"Do we have anything for dinner?" Sora asked quickly, glancing at the boy.

"No," Tifa said, her eyes catching Cloud's and boring into them.

"Tifa, we can't-"

"Denzel, go take a shower," Tifa ordered the boy. He looked at all three of them before bolting for the bathroom and slamming the door shut. Sora made a hasty retreat himself, and as he was closing the door could hear Tifa begin to rip into Cloud. It was still raining, but he wasn't going back in for lack of a jacket or umbrella. He winced and slipped his hand into his pocket to check the munny he had left and walked down the sidewalk, smiling over at their neighbor as he passed her and went in search of food.

When Sora came back with bags of food for everyone, he nearly tripped over Cloud's pallet near the door. He looked up at his companions in confusion, a question forming in his mouth before dying out at the way Tifa was pointedly not looking at Cloud who was sitting stoically at the table. Denzel was in the kitchen with Tifa, dressed in clothes that were too big for him, which now looking at them were Sora's own spares. Sora sidestepped the pallet, and set the bags down on the counter, offering a grin to the boy.

"I got what I could," Sora said, breaking the silence and pulling out the items from the bag. "Dinner for tonight and breakfast for tomorrow."

"That will be enough," Tifa said, swiftly joining him and searching through for the dinner items. She had to break open some of the bags that had been double bagged and knotted to keep the items inside dry. "We should be on our way back by then. Sora, there's not much here."

"Prices have been going up," he responded. "There wasn't much I could get." He paused, shifted on his feet and moved his weight to his heels as he shared a glance with Cloud.

"I noticed that," Cloud said. "We didn't get as much as we normally do."

Tifa left the table with the food and joined Denzel in the kitchen. "We are leaving tomorrow," she said. "Leon won't take another delay." Denzel didn't say anything. He stood awkwardly in the corner of the kitchen watching the stove as Tifa took out a pan and turned the burner on the stove to heat it up.

Sora quietly moved to the chair across from Cloud. "They're saying the crops are dying at a fast rate," he said after a moment, his voice a little quieter but still loud enough for all of them to hear. He looked over at Denzel whose face was blank and who was staring hard at the stove. "Not to be worried or anything, but-" and he stopped there, waiting for what he didn't know.

Cloud uncrossed his arms, sitting up straighter in the chair. "You think it's related to what we were researching earlier," he stated, not a question but a fact that he searched for confirmation in Sora's expression. Sora didn't disappoint.

Sora shook his head helplessly. "It's just a feeling."

Tifa blew the hair out of her face in exasperation. "Neither of you found anything this afternoon. We need to get back to Radiant Garden." Tifa offered the knife to Denzel who hesitantly reached out to grasp it. She led him over to the counter where she placed cutting board and directed him how to dice the vegetables.

"We'll go back tomorrow," Sora agreed with her easily. Cloud watched him for another moment, noticing the way Sora's hand drifted towards his head again. He sat back in his chair, his eyes intent. Sora saw him staring and got up to take a shower. He was soaked through from the rain. When he came out dinner was on the table and he sat down cheerfully to dig in while the other three brooded in their own thoughts.

The rest of the night was quiet. More quiet than it normally was with Tifa being cross at Cloud, though both she and Sora attempted to draw Denzel out of his shell. She insisted that everyone be in bed early. Denzel fell asleep first and Tifa shortly joined him on the bed. He turned to her seeking her warmth and she ran her fingers through his hair, remembering the little girl she used to care for on a world that no longer was and never would be and the friends she had there. In the main room Sora fell into a restless sleep to the eerie glow that emitted from Cloud's eyes in the darkness.

That night he dreamed of nothing. It wasn't that he did not dream at all; there really was nothing there. He couldn't see anything around him or above him or on whatever he was standing. He felt it though. A pressure that surrounded him, weighing him down and drowning him. And it terrified him more than the heartless had, or the nobodies, or the memories of the unverse, or having to tell Riku that he was so sorry. He woke up in a panic, eyes immediately going wide from sleep, heart pounding in his chest as he struggled to breath. His head was throbbing and he bolted up to take in the room. He saw Cloud's eyes peering at him from the floor and watched as they moved as Cloud propped himself up on one arm.

"What-" Cloud started, but a loud blast cut him off, shaking the entire house and what had to be the entire neighborhood around them. Cloud was up in an instant, diving for his sword that was leaning against the wall by the table. He went for his shoes next, leaning by the door as he put them on. Sora froze for a second, but the keyblade didn't wait for its master to call it, appearing in Sora's hand when its master felt in danger. He stumbled off the couch, reaching for the door to the bedroom, but Tifa was already pulling it open, hair flying as she whirled around to push Denzel in front of her, his terrified grip on the kitten in his arms making it give a noise in terror and dig its claws into the boys arm. Tifa grasped his shoulder and all but threw him into the kitchen, crouching in between him and the front door as she pushed him to the floor.

"What was that?" she exclaimed, hands pulling on the gloves that made her fists all the more deadly. "Sora, my shoes." Sora reached down just beyond the doorway to the bedroom, picked up her shoes and threw them over to her before reaching for his own.

"An explosion," Cloud said, crouched now by the door, ready for battle as he waited for Sora to finish. Sora went for the doorway, pulling on his other shoe, and joined Cloud, one knee on the floor while his other foot braced in preparation to bolt towards or away from something if he needed to. "Get his shoes on," Cloud ordered Tifa, his eyes never leaving the door while Sora watched the window behind him. She pushed Denzel towards the two of them, Sora grabbing hold and pulling him to him. Tifa crept to the bedroom, staying low to the ground, and found Denzel's shoes by the bed. She brought them out and joined them, kneeling before Denzel who grabbed his shoes to put them on himself. He reached for her, but Sora's hand on his shoulder was firm, holding him where he was at. "Let's go," Cloud said, and opened the door. Tensed and waiting, they saw nothing outside but the confused neighbors looking down the street, huddled together and forming groups among themselves in all manner of dress.

Cloud went outside first, sword at the ready. Sora went next and Tifa held Denzel closely between her and Sora as she came last. She looked around her. To the right and down the street towards the center of town they could see the glow of a fire that hadn't had the time to become a full-fledged blaze.

* * *

_He dreamed of fire. Every night he dreamed of a fire that consumed his world, leaving nothing but ash that drifted through the air like the soft lace of snowflakes of a corrupt winter over the tears and the screams and the smirk that he recognized and hated. In the world outside his dreams he never cried. It was a weakness he could not afford. But here in the nightmare, the tears fell freely down his cheeks and the screams tore from his throat to rip apart his voice. The part of his mind that was still him raged against the strands of red that danced in the flames and the keychain he was left holding in hands that were not his when the world went dark and he found himself alone. Blood dripped between the fingers of his clenched fists where the ends of the keychain punctured into his skin. He was caught in a cycle of redundant days and hellish nights and a nightmare that would not relent._

_The thing he hated most about it though, more than the smirk and the tears and the blood, was the owner of the dream. The owner with the bloody hands that had once been like a balm on his skin even when the screaming mouth had been whispering words of betrayal embedded in an apology that meant nothing. He could see the eyes as he remembered them in their endless blue, the tears reminiscent of the fountains Radiant Garden was famous for. Like the ocean running over, creating the rivers that ran along the coast of Destiny Islands, sparkling in the sunlight. He hated those eyes that went forever on like a midnight sky that he found himself staring into every evening. He hated the dreams and the man who disappeared into the flames with a kiss. Axel. But he would always always hate the owner of those hands and those screams and those tears. His was the silent kind of hatred, a burning fire that roiled under his skin, infecting his bones to reverberate throughout the very core of him in a rhythm that would not die, endlessly whispering the name Sora like a breath lost on the wind. It was the kind of hatred that could not be released or relieved by screaming to the stars or beating the next person he saw into a bloody mess on the ground, although he had tried that two years ago when he had first started dreaming. Tidus still avoided him, walking in the other direction whenever Riku came into sight, and Kairi had long ago stopped trying to talk to him._

_Always he had wondered, he couldn't help but wonder, if the dreams were just that or if they were a memory from a mind that would forever be connected to his. Was it something to come or had it already happened. Was it happening even now as he sat up in bed with tears streaming down his face to soak in the bedspread below him? Part of him, the darker part of him, raged against Sora, and Riku could feel a childlike tendril of satisfaction and hope that the dream really was a memory and Sora even now cried against the same stars Riku stared into every night. The other part of Riku was silent, watching and waiting and dead._

_Abruptly he threw his legs over the side of the bed and wiped away his tears with a motion saturated in disgust. On his desk he saw the letter that had arrived that evening while his mother had been knocking at the door imploring him to come and eat with her. The letter was open, the edges of the paper reaching towards the ceiling. The summons did not explain much, but it was half a page of fearful urgency penned by King Mickey himself, the desperation nearly dripping from between the lines of the page that his presence was needed at court. At sunrise he would be on his way to the castle. His mother didn't understand, but she never understood. She would let him go because she had no choice in the matter. From the moment Riku had stepped off the island on a journey that would take him beyond the universe, she had no say in what he did with his life or his days or the light in his room which hadn't been turned on since he had come back. He would go, despite her tears and stony silence as she withdrew further into herself as the days passed on to answer the only one who he was obligated to be loyal to. He would do what needed to be done, be the weapon of the King to protect the worlds._

_And on the way he was sure to run into Sora. Something in this universe, like a bad practical joke, would bring them together again. Sora was too much a part of him, two sides of the same coin, completely different and yet the same. Sora was still the thing that kept him going, and he would keep his sanity just long enough, waiting for that moment when they would finally be drawn together again. And then he was going to find every crack, every weakness in Sora's persona, and tear each one open, painfully and slow so that Sora would know what it was like to be abandoned to the darkness that dwelled deep within one's own mind. After that he would he would stand back and watch Sora destroy himself, shattered into so many shards of glass that could never be put back together again. And then finally, finally, Riku would be able to let go_

_of everything._

**End of chapter one**


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